Improvement in revolving fire-arms



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES VARNER, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,904, dated July 2S, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WARNER, of Springeld, county ot Hampden, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Revolving Fire- Arms; and l do hereby declare that the f'ollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being made to the annexed drawings, makinga part of this specitcation, in which- Figure I is aside elevation, partly in section. Fig. ll is of a partin detail.

Similar letters indicate similar parts in both the figures.

My improvement is applicable only to those repeating tire-arms wherein the revolution of the charge-cylinder is effected by the point of a lever which projects through the shield-plate, taking into a series of ratchet-grooves on the rear end of the cylinder, and which level' is required to retreat, as a latch, in a somewhat horizontal direction in order to take a new hold for the next rotative movement. As usually constructed this act of retreating is permitted by having a slot instead of a circular hole for that pin to act in which contines the reverse end ot' the lever, and thus the lever may have the necessary longitudinal movement. A coiled springis so aflixed that it will draw the point of the lever toward thecylinder, and this arrangement ecects the purpose very well when the parts are new and clean; but when from the piece bein gtouled after repeated tiring the rotation is rendered more ditlicult the point of the lcv er is apt, particularly when it has become slightly worn, to slip out or be unlatched in the act of cooking, and since the rotation is effected by the cocking the piece will not then be discharged for the reason that the rotation will have been but a partial one. To keep the lever forward under these circumstances some device is required which shall be more positivein its action than the springalone. For the purpose merely of giving a rotation vwith certainty all that is necessary would be that the lever should have freedom simply to turn upon the pin at the back end, the sliding motion along it heilig essential only when the lever is returned in the act of tiring, in order that it may ride over the edge ot' the next groove below to take a new hold.V My construction is such that the lever will be held firmly in the advanced position-that is, the centering-pin being then inthe back end of the slot-during all the time that a rotation is being effected by the said lever, and will be free to slide along the pin when in the act of passing to the next groove. l effect this by cutting away the back end of the slot a in the lever b, so as to form a depression which will receive into it about one-half ofthe pin c, conning that end, and as shown clearly in the enlarged view, Fig. II.

The operation will he that as the piece is being fired the pin t', which extends, as seen in Fig. I, from the hammer into a slot in the leverb, carries that point of the lever downward which is in contact with the cylinder, and in so doing will also have a tendency to depress the reverse end, and therefore the pin will then have a bearing against the upper side of the curved slot, and the lever can readily take the backward movement necessary to allow it to pass into the next catch in the cylinder, as in Fig. I it is represented as about to. 0n cooking again the pin i acts to lift both ends of the lever b, and thecoiled spring having` again drawn the lever forward the pin c will now rest in the depression. The bearing of the lever up against it is sufficient to keep the lever from slipping ot't', and hence the point cannot retreat to escape from the catch in which it is engaged, thus insuring the accurate revolving of the cylinder to the full extent required.

I claim- The specific device in the end ot' the slot for preventing the retreat ot' the lever b in the act ot' cockin g, substantially as set forth herein.

JAMEs WARNER.

Witnesses:

S. H. MAYNARD, THoMAs DUCEY. 

